Monday, March 13, 2017

*Top Ten Tuesday* Spring Releases

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Joood - Hooligan of Platypire reviews bossed me into doing this, so I guess this is a thing I do now.

This weeks theme is spring releases, which apparently means books coming out between March 20th and June 19. So here are some books that I've won ARCs of through Goodreads that will be releasing this spring, so I need to read them. I have also included some upcoming releases from my favorite indie authors that are available for pre-order now.

Arrived

These are books that I have in my possession right now.

Title: City of Light, City of Poison

Author: Holly Tucker

Genre: Non-Fiction/History

Publication Date: March 21, 2017

Synopsis: Appointed to conquer the “crime capital of the world,” the first police chief of Paris faces an epidemic of murder in the late 1600s. Assigned by Louis XIV, Nicolas de La Reynie begins by clearing the streets of filth and installing lanterns throughout Paris, turning it into the City of Light.

The fearless La Reynie pursues criminals through the labyrinthine neighborhoods of the city. He unearths a tightly knit cabal of poisoners, witches, and renegade priests. As he exposes their unholy work, he soon learns that no one is safe from black magic—not even the Sun King. In a world where a royal glance can turn success into disgrace, the distance between the quietly back-stabbing world of the king’s court and the criminal underground proves disturbingly short. Nobles settle scores by employing witches to craft poisons and by hiring priests to perform dark rituals in Paris’s most illustrious churches and cathedrals.

As La Reynie continues his investigations, he is haunted by a single question: Could Louis’s mistresses could be involved in such nefarious plots? The pragmatic and principled La Reynie must decide just how far he will go to protect his king.

From secret courtrooms to torture chambers, City of Light, City of Poison is a gripping true-crime tale of deception and murder. Based on thousands of pages of court transcripts and La Reynie’s compulsive note-taking, as well as on letters and diaries, Tucker’s riveting narrative makes the fascinating, real-life characters breathe on the page.

Synopsis: A singular debut that “marks the emergence of a great, stomping, wall-knocking talent” (Kevin Barry)

Daisy Johnson’s Fen, set in the fenlands of England, transmutes the flat, uncanny landscape into a rich, brooding atmosphere. From that territory grow stories that blend folklore and restless invention to turn out something entirely new. Amid the marshy paths of the fens, a teenager might starve herself into the shape of an eel. A house might fall in love with a girl and grow jealous of her friend. A boy might return from the dead in the guise of a fox. Out beyond the confines of realism, the familiar instincts of sex and hunger blend with the shifting, unpredictable wild as the line between human and animal is effaced by myth and metamorphosis. With a fresh and utterly contemporary voice, Johnson lays bare these stories of women testing the limits of their power to create a startling work of fiction.

Synopsis: Our bodies started shaking from the cold and shock, yet we were so terrified of being caught that we had to keep our teeth clenched together to keep them from chattering; we could not allow ourselves to make any sound. Whenever we heard a sound or detected motion, we would stare in that direction, even though we could see nothing but dark. Dawit Gebremichael Habte fled his homeland of Eritrea as a teenager. In the midst of the ongoing Eritrean-Ethiopian war, Dawit and his sisters crossed illegally into Kenya. Without their parents or documents to help their passage, they experienced the abuse and neglect known by so many refugees around the world.

But Dawit refused to give up. He stayed resilient and positive. Journeying to the United States under asylum and still a boy Dawit found a new purpose in an unfamiliar land. Against impossible odds, he studied hard and was accepted to Johns Hopkins University, eventually landing a job as a software engineer at Bloomberg. After a few years, with the support of Michael Bloomberg himself, Dawit returned to his homeland to offer business opportunities for other Eritreans. Dawit found a way to help his ancestral land emerge from thirty years of debilitating war.

Gratitude in Low Voices is about how one man was marginalized, but how compassion and love never abandoned him. It s about learning how to care for family, and how to honor those who help the helpless. The life of a refugee is hard, and the lives of those in war-torn lands are harder still. This account reminds us that hope is not lost.

This humble story of Dawit s life stands out in a time when we look at immigrants as never before a book that illuminates our decisions to help or to turn away those who land on our doorstep, and the gratitude that surely follows any act of compassion."

Synopsis: The Crenshaw Six are a small but up-and-coming gang in South Central LA who have recently been drawn into an escalating war between rival drug cartels. To outsiders, the Crenshaw Six appear to be led by a man named Garcia . . . but what no one has figured out is that the gang's real leader (and secret weapon) is Garcia's girlfriend, a brilliant young woman named Lola.

Lola has mastered playing the role of submissive girlfriend, and in the man's world she inhabits she is consistently underestimated. But in truth she is much, much smarter--and in many ways tougher and more ruthless--than any of the men around her, and as the gang is increasingly sucked into a world of high-stakes betrayal and brutal violence, her skills and leadership become their only hope of survival.

An astonishing debut crime thriller about an unforgettable woman who combines the genius and ferocity of Lisbeth Salander with the ruthless ambition of Walter White. Lola marksthe debut of a hugely exciting new thriller writer, and of a singular, magnificent character unlike anyone else in fiction.

Synopsis: Olivia Miller is standing on the porch of her mother and stepfather's plantation style villa in St. Barts. They have been coming here every April for years but she is always thrilled to see the horseshoe shaped bay of Gustavia and white sand of Gouverneur's Beach. This trip should be particularly exciting because she is celebrating her twenty-fifth birthday and hoping that Finn, her boyfriend of four years, will propose.

The only person who won't be here is her father, Sebastian, who she hasn’t seen in twenty years. He’s a well-known artist and crisscrosses the globe, painting and living in exotic locations like Kenya and China. When Sebastian walks unexpectedly walks through the door and floats back into Olivia’s life like a piece of bad driftwood she never knew she wanted, she starts to wondering if her world is too narrow. She questions the dreams and the relationship she’s always thought she wanted. But there seems to be more to the story than an innocent fatherly visit, and Olivia must decide if love is more important than truth.

Set on St. Barts, the jewel of the Caribbean, WHITE SAND, BLUE SEA is a heartwarming story about romance and adventure, and most importantly, about knowing yourself, and what makes you happy.

Synopsis: For readers of Nora Ephron, Anna Quindlen, and even Lena Dunham, comes a collection of stories and essays about what women of a certain age have learned sometimes the hard way.

In You Don t Look Your Age, Sheila Nevins has put together an incredibly surprising, funny and poignant collection of short stories, essays, and poetry that, taken together, tell not only her life story but the life stories of a generation of women.

Nevins has seen it all. A famed documentary producer (many credit her with creating the modern documentary) Nevins has always been behind the scenes. But now it s time for her to take center stage. Nevinswas stopped at every path as a girlfriend, during motherhood, and with her career. . You Don t Look Your Age is Nevins chance to tell how things really were, and are, for countless women. Topics she tackles are: frenemies, infidelity, plastic surgery, dieting, Viagra, the heartbreak of young first love, the discomforts of growing old, and a celebration in the long run of what life has to offer.

With biting humor, charm, deep insight, wisdom, and surprising poignancy, Nevins has written that rare book that will be shared between mothers and daughters and even granddaughters.

Synopsis: From the #1 bestselling author of The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect, an unforgettable new novel about lost love and second chances

On the cusp of turning fifty, Adam Sharp likes his life. He’s happy with his partner Claire, he excels in music trivia at quiz night at the local pub, he looks after his mother, and he does the occasional consulting job in IT.

But he can never quite shake off his nostalgia for what might have been: his blazing affair more than twenty years ago with an intelligent and strong-willed actress named Angelina Brown who taught him for the first time what it means to find—and then lose—love. How different might his life have been if he hadn’t let her walk away?

And then, out of nowhere, from the other side of the world, Angelina gets in touch. What does she want? Does Adam dare to live dangerously?

Synopsis: Physician Bess Codman has returned to her family's Nantucket compound, Cliff House, for the first time in four years. Her great-grandparents built Cliff House almost a century before, but due to erosion, the once-grand home will soon fall into the sea. Though she s purposefully avoided the island, Bess must now pack up the house and deal with her mother, a notorious town rabble-rouser, who refuses to leave.

The Book of Summer unravels the power and secrets of Cliff House as told through the voices of Ruby Packard, a bright-eyed and idealistic newlywed on the eve of WWII, the home's definitive guestbook, and Bess herself. Bess's grandmother always said it was a house of women, and by the very last day of the very last summer at Cliff House, Bess will understand the truth of her grandmother s words in ways she never contemplated.

A single mother's life is turned upside down when her best friend vanishes in this chilling debut thriller in the vein of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.

It starts with a simple favor—an ordinary kindness mothers do for one another. When her best friend, Emily, asks Stephanie to pick up her son Nicky after school, she happily says yes. Nicky and her son, Miles, are classmates and best friends, and the five-year-olds love being together—just like she and Emily. A widow and stay-at-home mommy blogger living in woodsy suburban Connecticut, Stephanie was lonely until she met Emily, a sophisticated PR executive whose job in Manhattan demands so much of her time.

But Emily doesn’t come back. She doesn’t answer calls or return texts. Stephanie knows something is terribly wrong—Emily would never leave Nicky, no matter what the police say. Terrified, she reaches out to her blog readers for help. She also reaches out to Emily’s husband, the handsome, reticent Sean, offering emotional support. It’s the least she can do for her best friend. Then, she and Sean receive shocking news. Emily is dead. The nightmare of her disappearance is over.

Or is it? Because soon, Stephanie will begin to see that nothing—not friendship, love, or even an ordinary favor—is as simple as it seems.

A Simple Favor is a remarkable tale of psychological suspense—a clever and twisting free-fall of a ride filled with betrayals and reversals, twists and turns, secrets and revelations, love and loyalty, murder and revenge. Darcey Bell masterfully ratchets up the tension in a taut, unsettling, and completely absorbing story that holds you in its grip until the final page.

Synopsis: From the creator of The Honest Toddler comes a fiction debut sure to be a must-read for moms everywhere

There are good moms and bad moms—and then there are hot-mess moms. Introducing Ashley Keller, career girl turned stay-at-home mom who's trying to navigate the world of Pinterest-perfect, Facebook-fantastic and Instagram-impressive mommies but failing miserably.

When Ashley gets the opportunity to participate in the Motherhood Better boot camp run by the mommy-blog-empire maven she idolizes, she jumps at the chance to become the perfect mom she's always wanted to be. But will she fly high or flop?

With her razor-sharp wit and knack for finding the funny in everything, Bunmi Laditan creates a character as flawed and lovable as Bridget Jones or Becky Bloomwood while hilariously lambasting the societal pressures placed upon every new mother. At its heart, Ashley's story reminds moms that there's no way to be perfect, but many ways to be great.

Chelle is not your typical vampire. Turned not with a bite but an age-old magic, she s the only one of her kind and more powerful than most. Still adjusting to her endless thirst and lethal fangs, she s desperate to discover what sets her apart. When she encounters a brutally virile alpha werewolf, she soon learns that she s not immune to the mating call and her own primal longing

The leader of the ancient Forkbeard pack, Gunnar is stunned by Chelle s lush beauty. The wild wolf inside him howls for her, but unions between vampire and werewolf are strictly taboo even if their clans weren t on the verge of war. Desire has never been so dangerous but, as a malevolent new power rises, Chelle and Gunnar face an even more frightening threat. Together, they might find a way to save their clans. But can they claim their passion, in The Untamed Vampire by Kate Baxter.

Title: Fear City: New York's Financial Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics

Author: Kim Phillips-Fein

Genre: Non-Fiction

Publication Date: April 18, 2017

Synopsis: An epic and riveting history of New York City on the edge of disaster--and an anatomy of the politics of austerity that continues to shape the world today

When the news broke in 1975 that New York City was on the brink of fiscal collapse, few believed it was possible: how could the capital of the financial world go bankrupt? And yet the city was billions of dollars--maybe twelve, maybe fourteen, no one even really knew how much--in the red. Bankers and politicians alike seized upon the situation as evidence that social liberalism, which New York famously exemplified, was doomed to failure--and promised apocalyptic scenarios if the city didn't fire thousands of workers, freeze wages, and slash social services.

In this vivid, gripping account, historian Kim Phillips-Fein tells the remarkable story of the crisis that engulfed the city, forever transforming the largest metropolis in the United States and reshaping ideas about government throughout the country. In doing so, she brings to life a radically different New York, the legendarily decrepit city of the 1970s. Drawing on never-before-used archival sources as well as interviews with key players in the crisis, Phillips-Fein guides us through the hairpin turns and sudden reversals that brought New York City to the edge of bankruptcy--and kept it from going over. At once a sweeping history of some of the most tumultuous times in the city's past, a colorful portrait of the unwieldy mechanics of municipal government, and an origin story of the politics of austerity, Fear City is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the resurgent fiscal conservatism of today.

Synopsis: "Family dysfunction at its best. This novel is addicting and entertaining and I couldn't put it down!"

- Jennifer Close, New York Times bestselling author of Girls in White Dresses and The Hopefuls

Relationships are awful. They'll kill you, right up to the point where they start saving your life.

Paul and Alice’s half-sister Eloise is getting married! In London! There will be fancy hotels, dinners at “it” restaurants and a reception at a country estate complete with tea lights and embroidered cloth napkins.

They couldn’t hate it more.

The People We Hate at the Wedding is the story of a less than perfect family. Donna, the clan’s mother, is now a widow living in the Chicago suburbs with a penchant for the occasional joint and more than one glass of wine with her best friend while watching House Hunters International. Alice is in her thirties, single, smart, beautiful, stuck in a dead-end job where she is mired in a rather predictable, though enjoyable, affair with her married boss. Her brother Paul lives in Philadelphia with his older, handsomer, tenured track professor boyfriend who’s recently been saying things like “monogamy is an oppressive heteronormative construct,” while eyeing undergrads. And then there’s Eloise. Perfect, gorgeous, cultured Eloise. The product of Donna’s first marriage to a dashing Frenchman, Eloise has spent her school years at the best private boarding schools, her winter holidays in St. John and a post-college life cushioned by a fat, endless trust fund. To top it off, she’s infuriatingly kind and decent.

As this estranged clan gathers together, and Eloise's walk down the aisle approaches, Grant Ginder brings to vivid, hilarious life the power of family, and the complicated ways we hate the ones we love the most in the most bitingly funny, slyly witty and surprisingly tender novel you’ll read this year.

Partial list of books my favorite indie authors will be releasing in spring.

This list only includes books that are up for pre-order.

Title: Dating-ish

Author: Penny Reid

Genre: Romance

Publication Date: May 16, 2017

Synopsis: ‘Dating-ish’ can be read as a standalone, is a full length 100k word novel, and is book #6 in the Knitting in the City Series.

There are three things you need to know about Marie Harris: 1) She’s fed up with online dating, 2) She’s so fed up, she’s willing to forego the annoyance and consider more creative alternatives, and 3) She knows how to knit.

After the most bizarre and irritating first date in the history of human kind, Marie is looking for an alternative to men. With the help of her friends, she quickly identifies a few possibilities:

Need a cuddle? Use a professional cuddler. Need affirmation? Get yourself a life coach. Need an orgasm? Try orgasm meditation! Why does she need the hassle of a romantic partner when she can meet all her needs with paid services?

But then her irritating date resurfaces. And he’s not at all the person she thought he was. And he suggests a different—and crazier—solution to her dilemma . . .

As everyone knows (or will soon come to realize), traditional relations between humans are a thing of the past. Robots are our future. And if robots are our future, then why do we need other people at all?

Synopsis: Straddling the line between Heaven and Hell, seventeen-year-old Cami Anders never thought she’d find herself in Purgatory again. As demons rise to rule humanity, Cami faces a seemingly impossible task—to right the balance in the world before the most powerful demons create a new Hell on earth, one that they want her to be a part of.

Now faced with the ultimate decision, Cami must decide if the world that has wronged her is worth fighting for. Because saving humanity could not only mean she’ll lose her chance at the eternity of her making, but it could also mean that she must give up those she loves. Is she strong enough to take a stand against both Heaven and Hell, or is she doomed to make the most devastating sacrifice?

Synopsis: Emme Ford loves her job as a bar promoter. She runs in the same circles as musicians and socialites, getting paid to party with them. She’s content with life just the way it is, and she has no interest in marriage, kids, or growing up. But what happens when the party’s over?

Axel Jones wants to marry Emme, but she denied his proposal. They both pretend it didn’t affect their relationship, but it did. A wedge divides them, and now they’re stuck in a stalemate. What do you do when one person wants more and the other doesn’t?

Synopsis: Phyre has a haunting past. The girl without a last name and fire in her hands burns with a history of destruction to save herself. Solace is finally found in the cozy comfort of Hestia’s Home, a place for women who need hiding. Just like her five surrogate sisters-in-solitude, Phyre yearns to extinguish memories and rekindle her spirit. Her plan blazes forward until he arrives.

Hephaestus Cronus considers himself an ugly man. A near-death accident left him disabled but not without heart. His gratitude lies with the protection of his foster mother, Hestia. Running from a failed relationship, Heph only desires the familiar fires of the hearth at her home. Burned from the heartache, Heph never expected to spark a new flame in the rose-bud-cherry-haired girl missing a name.

This modern tale of Hephaestus, the metal working god, rights the wrong of a crippled man failed at love. Here the flaming passion he deserved as an under-recognized god is written in a new fashion with the fiery spirit of a woman who ignites true love between these twin flames.

Fourteen-year-old Violet has been called many things: a bad blood, a survivor, an immortal…now she has a new name—citizen. But adjusting to a lawful life is not easy, especially when she must live under the rule of the same officers who justified the killings of her flock only eight months earlier.

Segregation of bad bloods and humans is still in effect, and rebellious Violet steps into a school where she is not allowed. When the police get involved, things deteriorate quickly, sparking a new revolution at the wall separating the Highlands from the outskirts.

That's when Caleb steps in. He might appear to be an average sixteen-year-old bad blood, but he has secrets, and Violet is determined to figure them out. Caleb knows who's attacking the wall and why, but his true identity remains a mystery—and how he relates to Violet could shake the threatened city to its very core.

Together or not, a storm will form, a rally will start, and shocking truths will be revealed.

Synopsis: Ben Walton is the guy everyone can turn to. He's been a shoulder to cry on and a helping hand for all his friends as they've each met the love of their life and embarked upon their happily-ever-after.

He's the only one who's still single. He lost the first and only love of his life when he was still only eighteen years old. He never thought he'd get Charlotte back, and he never thought he'd want another woman.

He should have learned by now—never say never. He hasn't heard from Charlotte in months, but he believes that she meant it when she said she was coming back—to the lake and to him. Even though he could never see himself with another woman, there is another woman who could happily see herself with him. He hired Angel to run the lodge for him. They have so much in common and she's a beautiful woman—but she's not Charlotte.

If you’re reading this, I assume that you’ve been waiting for Ben’s happily-ever-after for a while. I hope you’ll enjoy seeing him finally find the happiness he so deserves

The Summer Lake series follows a group of friends from a small lakeside town in the California hills. They have kept in touch over the years and now, in their early thirties, their lives are drawing them back to Summer Lake and to each other.

So there you have it, "ten" books that will be releasing this spring that I either already own or am looking forward to. Obviously I have issues counting to ten. I like to call it new math.

I think I'm most interested in reading Confessions of a Domestic Failure, because that just sounds like the kind of book that will make me feel better about my current role as a stay at home mom who often feels like a domestic failure. Which of these books do you think looks most interesting? - Katie

Well, the book from this list that I read first will technically be Revived because I already read it (I was the proofreader for Revived). Beyond that, probably White Sand, Blue Sea because I already have it in my possession and it was printed on the good paper (because I'm weird and have a favorite type of book paper.) - Katie

Fun fact about Lola, I didn't even notice that there is a face in the background on the cover until I was putting this post together. It has been sitting on top of the stack of books behind my office chair waiting to be photographed for Instagram for at least a week now, and I only just now noticed the face. - Katie